A man from Colchester who says he is “addicted” to viewing child sex abuse images has been jailed.

Colin Hodgson, 61, from Colchester, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months imprisonment on Friday (January 5), after it came to light that he had sexually assaulted a girl from the age of 18 months to three years old.

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He pleaded guilty to five counts of sexual assault of a child under 13, three counts of causing or inciting a child under 13 to engage in sexual activity, as well as three counts of making indecent images of children.

Prosecuting, Terence Woods QC said: “Around Christmas 2016, the victim’s grandmother disclosed to a social worker that the defendant had asked the victim if she wanted to have a bath with him.”

On August 19, 2017, police found that an internet server connected to Hodgson’s IP address had been used to access indecent images of children and a search warrant was executed on Nov 7.

Mr Woods said: “He was arrested and a number of devices, two laptops and two hard drives, were seized.

“The majority of the images were of very young girls, many of whom were under the age of three years old. There were also images of the victim being touched by an adult hand and also touching her vagina with a vibrator.

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“He did manage to curtail the activity as he was feeling terrible. It became an addiction.

“It’s like being on drugs. He is looking forward to receiving treatment.”

The young victim has been affected by the abuse.

Judge Jonathan Seeley said: “She is extremely anxious around adult men. It is the grossest abuse. As far as mitigation is concerned, your counsel says your guilty pleas and the remorse you say you now feel.